Opinion please on Mercruiser boats and general boat-buying?

Please TELL ME, AS A MANUFACTURER, what you think of their products. For example when buying a car, one may choose a Hyundai over a Kia or a Dodge over a Ford for various reasons… So what's the 4-1-1 on Mercury Mercruiser?

I'm looking to find out what makes a good deal when looking for a boat. All I know thus far is to look for things such as damages/lack thereof, number of hours on the motor, and type of engine. Is there anything else I need to research or questions I will want to ask if I approach a dealer and don't want to be taken to the cleaners?

If you are going with an I/O runabout Mercruiser is hard to beat and not really that many other engine/outdrive manufacturers left, So you choices are good but limited. Just make sure you get enough HP to do what you want with the boat - an under powered boat is no fun. Outboards is another thing altogether - lots of manufacturers and I'm not so sure there's much difference between the best and worst (newer motorcycles are the same way these days). Just make sure that there's a support network near where the boat will be used so you don't have to tow excessive miles for maintenance and repairs. If you are buying used -- have a marine survey done on the boat with a complete sea-trial so there are no surprises - used boat dealers are no better than used car dealers.

Mercury Marine, founded in 1939 as Kiekhaefer Mercury, is a division of the Brunswick Corporation. It is based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. They pretty much invented the stern drive or inboard/outboard drive for boats in the 1960's, and the Mercruiser brand name is on about 80% of all the boats in the world that use a stern drive with an inboard engine.